Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:14:45.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

If we accept that poor replication rates are mainstream

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2018

David M. Alexander
Affiliation:
Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium. [email protected]@kuleuven.behttp://www.perceptualdynamics.bewww.gestaltrevision.be
Pieter Moors
Affiliation:
Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium. [email protected]@kuleuven.behttp://www.perceptualdynamics.bewww.gestaltrevision.be

Abstract

We agree with the authors' arguments to make replication mainstream but contend that the poor replication record is symptomatic of a pre-paradigmatic science. Reliable replication in psychology requires abandoning group-level p-value testing in favor of real-time predictions of behaviors, mental and brain events. We argue for an approach based on analysis of boundary conditions where measurement is closely motivated by theory.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, D. M., Jurica, P., Trengove, C., Nikolaev, A. R., Gepshtein, S., Zvyagintsev, M., Mathiak, K., Schulze-Bonhage, A., Reuscher, J., Ball, T. & van Leeuwen, C. (2013) Traveling waves and trial averaging: The nature of single-trial and averaged brain responses in large-scale cortical signals. NeuroImage 73:95112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.01.016.Google Scholar
Alexander, D. M., Trengove, C. & van Leeuwen, C. (2015) Donders is dead: Cortical traveling waves and the limits of mental chronometry in cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive Processing 16(4):365–75. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0662-4.Google Scholar
Estes, W. K. (1956) The problem of inference from curves based on group data. Psychological Bulletin 53(2):134–40.Google Scholar
Hultsch, D. F. & Hickey, T. (1978) External validity in the study of human development: Theoretical and methodological issues. Human Development 21(2):7691. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1159/000271576.Google Scholar
Lakens, D. (2013) Calculating and reporting effect sizes to facilitate cumulative science: A practical primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Frontiers in Psychology 4:863. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863.Google Scholar
Manicas, P. T. & Secord, P. F. (1983) Implication for psychology of the new philosophy of science. American Psychologist 38(4):399413. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.38.4.399.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1967) Theory-testing in psychology and physics: A methodological paradox. Philosophy of Science 34(2):103–15.Google Scholar
Meehl, P. E. (1990a) Why summaries of research on psychological theories are often uninterpretable. Psychological Reports 66(1):195244. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1990.66.1.195.Google Scholar
Szucs, D. & Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2017b) When null hypothesis significance testing is unsuitable for research: A reassessment. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 11:390. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00390.Google Scholar
Wallot, S. & Kelty-Stephen, D. G. (2018) Interaction-dominant causation in mind and brain, and its implication for questions of generalization and replication. Minds and Machines 28(2):353–74. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-017-9455-0.Google Scholar
Widaman, K. (2015) Confirmatory theory testing: Moving beyond NHST. The score. Newsletter. Available at: http://www.apadivisions.org/division-5/publications/score/2015/01/issue.pdf.Google Scholar